Mechanical-toy bowler andy crane



B. F. BAIN. MECHANICAL TOY BOWLER ANDY CRANE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30. I919.

Patented Oct. 12, 1920.

INVENTOR WITNESSES UNITED STATES BENJAMIN F. BATN, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

MECHANICAL-TOY BOWLER ANDY CRANE;

Specification of Letters Patent. 7

Patented Oct. 12, 1920.

- Application filed June so, 1919. Serial No. 307,624.

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. BAIN, a resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Mechanical-Toy -Bowler Andy Cranes, of which the following is a specification.

This inventionrelates to mechanical toys, and particularly automatic toys of the gravity operated type such as described and claimed in my prior Patents No. 1,151,919, August 31, 1915, No. 1,192,031, July 25, 1916 and No. 1,244,456, October 30, .1917, in which the toy simulates the action of a crane or derrick'for transferring material or objects from one place or position and discharging the same in another place or position.

The object of the present invention is to improve the type of toys of the aforesaid mentioned patents in order to simplify the same, make its operation more positive and also to adapt the same to carry large ponderous bodies such as marbles, and in which the knock-down construction is secured by a novel construction and arrangement of parts.

The invention comprises'the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a side elevation of the toy, partly in vertical section, showing the load receiving receptacle in loading position; Fig. 2 is a similar view of a portion of the toy showing the load receiving receptacle in load discharging position; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the toy; Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line 4-4, Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is'a section on the line 5-5, Fig. 2.

The toy comprises a base 1, which is shown in the form of a shallow tray provided with upwardly extending flanges 2, which have holes therein to receive projections on the lower ends of the supports for the operating mechanism. As shown the toy is arranged to be operated by and to carry solid ponderous bodies such as marbles 10, and the receptacle or reservoir 3'is shown in the form of a trough supporting a series of marbles in line with each other, and being slightly inclined and provided at its lower end with a discharging orifice 4, which is controlled by a suitable gate or valve 5. Th s pport for the receptacl re e voir 3 is formed by two pairs of uprights or legs 6 and 7 pivotally connected intermediate thelr ends by the cross bar 8 and having their ends provided with right angle projections 9, those at the lower ends of the uprights engaging in holes in the side flanges 2 of the base, and those at the upper ends of the uprights engaging in holes in the receptacle or reservoir 3. These uprights are made of resilient metal so that their ends can be engaged with and disengaged from the base and receptacle by merely springing their ends laterally, and when disengaged said uprights will pivot around pivot 8 to lie in the same plane, and be in compact assembly'for packing.

The load carrying means comprises an arm 12 forming in effect a crane boom and carrying at one end a suitable load carrying receptacle or bucket 13, and at its opposite end acounter-weight 14. The arm 12 is shown as formed of two strips of metal having their ends in contact and secured respectively to the receptacle 13 and counterweight' 14, and intermediate their ends being spread apart and secured to a loop shaped member 15 whose upper and lower portions are provided with holes fitting a shaft 16, which is held in inclined position by a support comprising a pair of legs 17 formed of a continuous strip of metal bent to U-form, and a pair of braces 18 pivoted to legs 17 and 19. The lower ends of the legs 17 and braces 18 are bent outwardly at right angles and engage respectively in holes 20 and 21 in the side flanges 2 of the base. The legs 17 are cross connected below their upper ends by a member 22 which is secured by the same rivets which form the pivots 19 for the braces. Said cross member and the top member 23 of the U- shaped legs are provided with holes to re ceive the shaft 16. This shaft at its lower end is made non-circular, such as crescent shaped, as shown in Fig. 5, and the hole in the cross member 22 is madeof a corresponding shape, so that said shaft can be inserted in said hole in only one position and when inserted in said holes is held against rotation. The loop member 15, however, is free to oscillate on said shaft.

The gate or valve 5 will be of such construction as to feed the particular form of material to be used in the toy. For solid bodie such as marbles, said gate is shown as formed of strap metal in the form of a rectangular loop and is pivoted onthelongitudinal shaft 25 supported in ears 26 struck up from the metal forming the top at the lower end of the receptacle or reservoir 3. The inner end27 of this loop projects down into the trough or receptacle 3 to act as one member of an escapement to hold back the marbles 10, and its opposite end 28 is bent to lie underneath the discharge opening 4, and support one of the marbles against dropping out of the trough or receptacle'3, and is then reversely bent to provide, an arm 29 to be contacted by the load carrying receptacle 13.

11 projects laterally from the upper part of the gate 5 and serves as a counter weight V to restore the gate to normal position. W hen this load carrying receptacle crowds the gate toward one side the marble supported .by thev member 28 is permitted to drop into the load carrying receptacle 13, but when the load carrying receptacle swings out of the way the gate will again swing to normal boom and open at its bottom. This-receptacle however will be varied according to the character ofmaterial to be handled, and it will be provided with any suitable form of valve mechanism to retain the material forming the load. For a solid ponderous body as shown the valve is shown as the end of a rod or wire 30 which has a sliding movement through a hole in the'side wall of said receptacle, and whose opposite end is connected to a crank 31 on the upper end of the shaft 16. Thiscrank is in such positionthat when the boom is in load receiving positionthe rod 30 is projected into the receptacle 13 so asto support the marble therein, but since the shaft 16 is non-rotatable, when the boom swings 'to load dis-- charging'position as shown in Fig. 2, said rod is retracted suiiiciently to permit the marble to drop out of said receptacle. A stop 32'on the top member 23 of the legs 1'? is arranged to be contacted by an arm 33 on the loop memberlo to limit the extent of downwardly swinging movement of the arm 12 andcause said arm to rebound to loading position. 1

In order to confine the marbles discharged by the toy, I provide a suitable loop member 34 also of resilient band metalwhose ends are provided with inwardly projecting portionsz35 engaging holes in the side flanges 2 of the base 1, so that said member 34 can be readily detached for packing. To permit the member to pack in small compass it is formedof two: members pivotally An arm 7 connected at 37 so that when detached from thebase one member is folded into the other, as will beobvious.

The operation ofth'e toy is as follows: The marbles lOare placed in the recepltacle or reservoir 3, and roll down to the lower end of said receptacle, theforemost of said marbles coming to rest upon "and being supported by the horizontal arm 28 of the gate 5. Arm 12 is then caused-to contact the gate with sufficient force to crowd the member 28 to one side, thus permitting the foremost marble todrop down into the load-carrying receptacle 13, the arm .27 of the gate in the meantime holding back the arm in the reverse direction, and brings the receptacle 13 against the gate 5 with "suflicient impact to again crowd the gate to one side and permit another marble to drop into the receptacle 13,whereupon the foregoing movement is repeated. f The devicewill remain in operation a long as marbles :are supplied to the recep tacle Its action is entirely automatic.

Because of the absence of gears, pulleys or the like the mechanism is very simple and therefore positive in its action and not likely to get out of order or stick. The movement in one-direction is produced by the marble which will be of greater'weight than that of the counter-weight 14,-and the movement in the reverse direction is affected by the counterweight. V

Thetoy can be readilydisassembled and packed in aevery'small space. The ar nlfl is removed by merely lifting the shaft 16 out of the holes in the cross members of the legs 17. The legs 17 and braces 18 are disassembled from the base by springing their lower ends inwardly and-when removed 11 braces 18 will fold parallel-to the legs 17. The trough or receptacle 3 is removed by springing the upper ends of the legs 6 and 7 aparhandsaid legs are disengaged from the base by springing their lower ends toward each other, and when removed said legs can be folded into paral-' lelism with each other. Likewise the re taining loop 34 is, disengaged from the base by merely springing its end outwardlygand thereafter the two sections of theloop folded togetheron-t'heir pivot 37. Conse- 'quently all of theparts are in. a practically flat form, and will pack in a small carton. They can be readily assembled, as will be obvious. I a

7 Various changes can be made in the form and arrangement of the parts illustrated.

The toy can be made to operate not only by means of marbles, but also by other ponderous materials, such, for instance, as sand. In the latter case the'form of the storage receptacle and of the load carrying receptacle will be varied, and the valves or gates for these parts will be made of a form to retain the sand, in manner well. understood in the art.

I claim:

1. A mechanical toy comprising a supply receptacle, a frame carrying a load receiving receptacle and arranged to have a swinging and rising and falling movement around a non-vertical axis, means for reraining a load in said lead carrying recep tacle and releasing the same therefrom when in its lower position, and means for returning the load carrying receptacle to its higher position to receive another load from said storage receptacle.

2. A mechanical toy comprising a supply receptacle, a frame carrying a load receiving receptacle and arranged to have a swinging and. rising and falling movement around a non-vertical axis, means for retaining a load in said load carrying re ceptacle and releasing the same therefrom when in its lower position, and a counterweight for automatically returning the load receiving receptacle to its higher position to receive another load from the storage receptacle.

3. A mechanical toy comprising a supply receptacle, a frame carrying a load receiving receptacle and pivoted on an inclined axis whereby the load causes said arm to swing outwardly and downwardly, means for retaining a load in said carrying receptacle and releasing the same therefrom.

when in its lower position, and means for returning said carrying receptacle to its higher position to receive another load.

4. A mechanical toy comprising a supply receptacle, a frame carrying a load receiving receptacle and pivoted on an inclined axis whereby the load causes said arm to swing outwardly and downwardly, means for retaining a load in said carrying receptacle and releasing the same therefrom when in its lower position, and a counterweight for returning said carrying receptacle to its higher position to receive an other load.

5. A mechanical toy comprising a supply receptacle, a load carrying receptacle having a swinging movement around a nonvertical axis, means for depositing a load in said carrying receptacle from said storage receptacle, thereby causing the carry.-

ing receptacle to swing away from the supply receptacle by gravity, means for retaining the contents of said carrying receptacle and releasing the same therefrom at a point removed from the supply receptacle, and a counter-weight for. returning said carrying receptacle to loading position.

6. A mechanical toy comprising a supply receptacle, a loadv carrying mounted to have a swinging movement around an inclined axis, means for deposit ing a load in said carrying receptacle from said supply receptacle, thereby causing the carrying receptacle to swing away from the supply receptacle by gravity, means for retaining the loadin said carrying receptacle at a point'removed from said storage receptacle, and a counter-weight for returning the said carrying receptacle and releasing the same therefrom to loading position.

7. A mechanical toy comprising a supply receptacle, a frame mounted to swing around an inclined axis and provided at one end with a carrying receptacle and on its oppositeend with a counter-weight, means for depositing a load in said carrying receptacle from said supply receptacle and thereby cause the frame to swing by gravity away from the supply receptacle, and means for retaining the load in said carrying receptacle and releasing the same therefrom at a point removed from said supply receptacle and thereby permit the counter-weight to return said carrying receptacle to loading position.

8. A mechanical toy comprising a supply receptacle, a frame mounted to swing around an inclined axis and provided at one end with a carrying receptacle and on its opposite end with a counter-weight, means for depositing a load in said carrying receptacle from said supply receptacle and thereby cause the frame to swing by gravity away from the supply receptacle, and means for releasing the load from said carrying receptacle, said means including a rod pivoted to a fixed point eccentric to the axis of said swinging frame.

9. A mechanical toy comprising a base, a supply receptacle, a support therefor, a swinging frame carrying a receptacle arranged to receive a load from the supply receptacle, carry said. load to and deposit it at a distance, and a support for the supply receptacle comprising two pairs of legs pivotally connected intermediate their ends and having their ends formed to engage holes in the base and receptacle respectively.

10. A mechanical toy comprising a base, a supply receptacle, a support therefor, a swinging frame carrying a receptacle arranged to receive a load from the supply receptacle, carry said load to and deposit it at a distance, and a support for said load carrying frame comprising a pa r of legs receptacle and :a pair of braces pivotally connected thereto, having their lower ends formed to engage holes in the base.-

11. A.mechanical toy comprising a base,

a supply receptacle, 'a support therefor, a swinging frame carrying a receptacle arranged to receive aioad from theisupply receptacle,'carryrsaid load to and deposit it at a distance, and a support for said load carrying frame comprising foldable legs and braces with a pair of cross members and having their lower ends formedto lengage holes in the base, and a shaft around which the swinging frame pivots, said shaft cre- -movably and non-rotatably engaging in ranged to receive-a load from the supply receptacle, a .valve for releasing the load from said carrying receptacle, an operating 7 rod therefor, and a fixed projection from said shaft pivotally connected with said operating rod, whereby the swinging of said frameon said shaft operates said valve.

13. A mechanical toy comprising a base,

a supply receptacle, a load carrying receptacle mounted to receive a load from said supply receptacle and carrying it to and depositing it at a distance from said supply receptacle, and a load retaining member comprising a loop formed of two members pivotally connectedvto and foldable on each other and detachably attached to said base.

In testimonywhereof I have hereuntoset my hand. 7

V BENJAMIN F. BAIN. Witness: 7

G; G. TRILL. 

